Firstly i want to clarify: i do not mean a collapse, AI is not going away. I am talking about a market adjustment.
$$V = \sum_{t=1}^{n} \frac{CF_t}{(1+r)^t}$$
CF is the expected cash flow in year t, meaning the cash the company is expected to generate that year. r is the discount rate and t is the time horizon. If r increases (i.e., interest rates rise), the discount factor (1+r)^t grows exponentially over time t, reducing the present value of any future cash flow. This primarily hits industrial projects based on future cash flows, just like AI ( one only needs to look at their P/E ratios)
Wednesday’s drop followed higher inflation data, which reignited fears of higher interest rates and increased borrowing costs to fund tech development. Thus, rate expectations (r) and growth concerns (CF) both played a role the day before yesterday.
Oracle, neo-clouds, and data center builders take out loans or issue bonds to build capacity, backed by contracts with labs (OpenAI, Anthropic). The bond is serviced by the data center rent. The rent is paid by the customer, which can be a lab or a neo-cloud. If the lab has no earnings, it pays with new equity capital. And that capital depends on valuations and secure funding. If valuations drop, the IPO gets delayed (like OpenAI did), the customer slows down or renegotiates, and the bond loses value.
So the problem arises when a lab can no longer pay, not only because it lacks earnings, but because it can no longer raise capital (due to mistrust on AI as seen yesterday with the KOSPI market, or due to difficulty on raise capital due to high interest rates)
Between July 28 and 29, the main Seoul stock index (Kospi) dropped 16% over two consecutive sessions, forcing regulators to trigger circuit breakers (temporary trading halts). Also back then he sell-off was triggered by severe doubts about the short-term profitability of AI infrastructure spending and pressure on Korean memory giants.
Many companies and data center operators are taking on heavy debt (via high-yield bond issuances or loans) to buy chips and build multi-hundred-megawatt servers. With high interest rates, debt servicing costs are starting to weigh heavily, sparking fears over long-term financial sustainability and negatively impacting semiconductor stocks.
For decades, the Bank of Japan kept interest rates near zero. Investors borrowed Yen almost for free, converted them into US dollars and bought higher-yielding asset like US treasuries and bonds. However, due to an excessively weak yen, the BoJ has decided to raise interest rates, now 1.25%. If japanese investors (the largest foreign buyer of US debt) are no longer buying because it is more convenient at home, then the US treasury is forced to offer higher interest rates to their bonds.
the Fed meets on October 28 to assess interest rates, while the BoJ meets on October 30 to see whether to hike further. If they continue to raise rates, "r" will rise further.
Can a domino effect happen? meaning
BoJ rise interest rates -> Capital unwinds from US Treasuries (Carry trade ends) -> US Treasury yields rise (the price of new and existing debt increases r ↑ )-> Debt becomes too expensive for AI labs & Data centers -> Venture capital reduces funding and IPO gets delayed -> AI labs struggle to pay data center leases -> Mistrust & default fears spread --> High-yield AI data center bonds struggle, spreading to the tech market.
Am i reading it wrong? what am i missing?